Bunny Trouble
by Kyarorain
Summary: The Adepts are forced to go to the Underworld, when a ghost causes mischief and someone is accidentally killed. Will their plan work out?


**Bunny Trouble**

* * *

So, um, yeah, a strange fic. It's sort of humour, but a lot of it isn't... kind of the opposite actually. Sorta...

Camelot owns Golden Sun.

* * *

**100 YEARS AGO**

A twelve year old girl with blonde pigtails could be seen from Vale, clambering up the sacred mountain that was Mt. Aleph. She giggled maniacally as she ascended to the peak, feeling quite proud of herself.

Why was that? She was breaking the rules. It was simple as that. Vale prohibited people from going anywhere near Mt. Aleph, but she'd simply managed to sneak past the guards and now she was climbing Mt. Aleph.

Eventually, the tired girl reached the peak of Mt. Aleph and stretched her arms to the sky, looking triumphant.

"I did it! I reached the top of Mt. Aleph! I, like, am totally awesome!"

The girl turned her wide, gap-toothed smile toward the heavens and stared. An unidentifiable object was zooming toward her, gaining speed the further it fell. She tried to scream, but the body of a fat, yet fortunately dead man crashed into her. It then burst into flames from the impact and consumed the girl in its fiery wrath.

Up on the moon, which was also the City of Anemos, an old sage turned his gaze to Weyard in the sky. A man approached him, looking concerned.

"Did he reach Weyard?" asked the man. "Was the impact... a safe one? I feel a bit bad that we're sending dead people down there, but it helps to use people for the test, doesn't it?"

"Hmm," the sage said, looking pensive. "No. He gained immense speed as he fell and ended up crashing into the top of some mountain. He then burst into flames from the impact."

"Well, we'd better perfect it soon," the man said with a frown. "We're sending a baby down there in 84 years!"

"Poor girl," the sage said, looking away and shaking his head. "It is an undignified death to be killed by a falling fat man."

"A girl was killed?" the man looked astonished.

"Yes. Some girl named Bunny," the sage said. "But I have a feeling it won't be the last Weyard sees of her. Still, I'll be long dead by then, so it doesn't matter."

**PRESENT DAY**

Alex let out a scream of defeat as he fell from the peak of Mt. Aleph, falling along with a bunch of rocks, as the mountain sank into the ground. The Mercury Adept was already too heavily injured to try and survive the incident or even escape, so the rocks buried him and trapped him forever. Fortunately for him, he didn't take long to die.

The ghost of Bunny floated through the mountain, a sinister grin on her face. Her body had been removed from Mt. Aleph a long time ago, but her spirit had remained trapped here in death and ever since, she had been waiting for a new body.

Now she sensed one, not far away. As she searched through the rocks, desperately looking for the body, she found a dead man. Bunny let out a delighted cry as she reached out to touch the tangled blue hair, her smile widening, then she jumped into Alex's body.

Alex's aqua eyes shot open, flickering around. It was dark in here. Bunny wondered how she was supposed to get out. Then as she concentrated, she somehow moved. In a flash, the darkness of the rock prison was gone and she was now sitting in a grassy field.

"I live!" Bunny squealed, inhaling the fresh air. "Well... sort of... hehe, my voice sounds funny. It's all deep!" She leaped to her feet, pain shooting through Alex's still somewhat wounded body, then fell back down, groaning. Then again she tapped into his power and felt a warmth surrounding her, closing her wounds.

"Cool..." Bunny breathed out. "Like, awesome..."

Now that she had a body of her own, she wanted to go explore. So Bunny went to Vale and was quite surprised to see it was nothing but ruins and there were people partying nearby. Bunny scowled at them from behind a tree. Just why were they partying anyway? Were they Valeans? She decided they were.

Eventually, the party broke up and the Valeans walked away. Bunny decided to follow them, a conspirational grin on her face. Maybe she could have some mischief with them. That sure sounded fun.

As the unfortunate Adepts walked all the way to Vault, they had no idea of the terror that stalked them. The terror that was a dead twelve year old girl in the body of a dead twenty year old man.

----

"How are we all supposed to fit into this tiny village?" Jenna demanded. "This place is less than half the size of Vale!"

"We could send some people to Lunpa," Isaac suggested, smirking.

"Isaac! That's crazy!" Ivan exclaimed. "Hmm, what about Kalay?"

"It's simple," Sheba said. "We are the heroes of Weyard so we stay at the inn. The heroes' families can stay at the inn too. The rest just go to Kalay because they aren't that special."

"Maybe we should send you to Kalay," Piers said. Sheba just made a face at him. "As far as I can see, sending them to Kalay is our only solution."

"I can send them off with a message for Master Hammet as well," Ivan said. "He might be able to sort something out."

"Good thinking, Ivan," Mia said. "Now I think we should all go and relax now that our journey is over. I hope we aren't going to get bored."

"I just eat a lot when I'm bored," Garet said, shrugging. "Works for me." He simply received a few exasperated glances in response to his statement.

Felix had been quiet up until now, looking around at the scenery and staring at clouds or people or anything random that crossed his path, until he let out a cry of shock.

"What's the matter?" Isaac asked, turning around to look at Felix.

"Alex!" Felix yelled, pointing frantically. "It's Alex!"

"Oh, really?" Mia growled. She spotted Alex then suddenly she had a mace in her hands and was grinding her teeth. "Oh, Alex, come over here..."

"Mia?" Sheba stared at her in surprise.

"Alex brings out her violent side," Piers pointed out. "By the look of things."

The Adepts watched on guardedly, some of them automatically reaching for their weapons, as Alex strode up with a huge grin on his face. They weren't used to seeing Alex grinning, he used to be more into smirking than grinning, so they were a bit surprised.

"Hi!" Alex squealed, jumping up and down. "I followed you all the way from Vale! Like, Vale really changed since I last saw it, isn't that just so weird? Why were you partying? I like parties! Will you have another party? Can I come?"

"This... isn't... Alex..." Mia said slowly. "Is it?"

"Has Alex ever been on a sugar high?" Garet asked. "That's what it looks like."

"What are you on, Alex?" Felix demanded. "You can't try to take over the world then come and ask us if you can party with us!"

"Yeah!" Isaac nodded fiercely.

"My name's not Alex," said Alex, pouting. "My... uh... ahh..."

"Why are you staring at me?" Felix stepped back uncomfortably.

"Is that drool?" Jenna leaned forward, squinting.

"You're HOT!" Alex screamed, running forward.

"Ahh! Piers, save me!" Felix yelled, running and hiding behind the Lemurian. Piers was a bit taken aback, but obliged and stepped between Alex and Felix, stopping the Imilian in his tracks.

"I'm going to read his mind," Sheba said, looking a bit disturbed. She promptly did so as Alex whined and kicked Piers sharply in the leg. Piers winced and gritted his teeth. "Oh."

"Huh? What is it, Sheba?" Mia asked.

"This is not Alex," Sheba said. "That's his body, but he's actually possessed by the ghost of a twelve year old girl. A girl named Bunny who died a hundred years ago."

"That's right!" Bunny nodded, grinning. "I'm Bunny! And I want you!" she pouted, trying to get at Felix again. Thankfully, Felix's bodyguard was efficient enough to keep her at bay.

"I thought I was the one with the fangirls," Piers said, pouting.

"She's twelve! Freaking twelve!" Felix exclaimed, shaking his head.

"This is so weird," Jenna commented, staring at Alex. "Heh, Alex possessed by a girl. It's kind of funny."

"Okay, what we need to do is we have to go-" Isaac broke off as Bunny warped behind Piers and grabbed Felix. "Oh. Great."

"Yikes!" Felix screamed as Bunny glomped him. "Someone get this thing off me!" he shouted as Alex's lips zoomed in on him.

"What? Why don't you like me?" Bunny sniffled, blue eyes welling up with tears. "Is it because you don't like my body?"

"Well... yeah..." Felix said. That, and he wasn't too keen on being crushed on by a dead twelve year old.

"Okay! I'll take someone else!" Bunny said, stepping back. Alex's body then slumped over in a heap, eyes staring straight ahead.

"Ew," Ivan said, shuddering. "He looks dead." As an afterthought, he attempted to read Alex's mind. "Oh. He is dead."

"Good riddance," Mia said. "Now what is Bunny up to?"

"Hey! How about this?" Sheba yelled. No, not Sheba, but Bunny. Felix winced as Sheba lunged at him. He had a feeling that it was his fault that Sheba got possessed.

"We have to go to the sanctum," Isaac said. "Felix, just try and keep her calm for now."

"I can't breathe," Felix whimpered, as Sheba's arms wrapped tightly around his chest.

"I am so confused," Garet said.

"You're such a wimp, Felix," Jenna said huffily, pulling Bunny off. "You can fight a three headed dragon, but you can't deal with a twelve year old girl?"

"You're all mean!" Bunny screamed, looking mad. "Why don't you like me?" She flung a hand at the group and then lightning shot down at them. Everyone screamed and frantically dived out of the way.

"Oh, great, she discovered Sheba's Psynergy," Ivan said, swallowing. "I have a bad feeling that if we aren't careful..."

"We'll get hit with Spark Plasma?" Mia asked. "Yeah, that scares me."

"Oh... cool..." Bunny gaped at her hands. "Do you all have powers?"

"Yeah. It's called Psyn- ow!" Garet winced and rubbed the spot where Isaac had kicked him. "What was that for, Isaac?"

"You just told her we all had powers!" Isaac exclaimed.

"I want to try all your powers!" Bunny exclaimed. Then Sheba sank to her knees, groaning.

"What just happened?" Sheba asked, shaking her head. "Did I get possessed by a ghost?"

"Welcome back, Sheba," Ivan said. "Bunny wants to play with Psynergy so we're in trouble."

"Yikes!" Garet exclaimed, pedalling back as Jenna let out a high-pitched giggle. He nervously watched her back.

"This is so fun!" Jenna in Bunny's body squealed. "Now what can I use?"

"Oh man," Piers said, shaking his head. "This is not going to turn out well."

"She's going to turn us into crispy critters..." Felix's eyes widened in horror.

"When this is over, can I dance over Alex's body and sing 'Ding, dong, the wicked witch is dead'?" Mia asked suddenly. "I want to do that."

Bunny held up her hands and fireballs exploded from her palms. The Adepts ducked as fireballs flew over their heads. Bunny stared at her hands, fire flickering from them, and gasped.

"Fire..." Bunny said in a low voice, that was almost a whisper. "I died... in flames... fire... killed me..." She looked up at the Adepts and they recognised her gaze as one they only ever saw when Jenna was seriously pissed off. Yet, there was something almost psychotic about it.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Isaac whispered.

"I'll burn all of you and take Felix... for myself... and none of you meanies can... interfere anymore..." Bunny said in a witchy voice, the fireballs in her palm growing in size. "Because you don't like me..."

"She's going to burn us!" Sheba screamed.

Garet did the only thing he could think of in that moment. He grabbed a rock off the ground and ran forward, slamming it into the back of Jenna's head, meaning to knock her unconscious. Bunny groaned and fell to her knees, falling over unconscious.

"Garet!" Piers exclaimed. "Why did you do that?"

"Excuse me? You were all about to get burned!" Garet cried out, looking annoyed. "I just did you all a favour! Now let's go to the sanctum."

"You could have seriously hurt her," Isaac said, running over and kneeling next to Jenna. He touched the back of her head and pulled it away, grimacing as he saw that blood stained his glove. "There's blood!"

"Garet, what the hell did you do?" Felix yelled, running over to Jenna's body. He and Isaac cast Cure in unison. The bleeding stopped but Jenna didn't even move. "Why isn't she waking up?"

"She must be unconscious," Sheba said, looking worriedly at Jenna. "Let's go to the sanctum and get Bunny out."

"Is everyone mad at me?" Garet asked as the group walked to the sanctum with Jenna.

"Just don't talk, Garet," Mia hissed through her clenched teeth.

Once inside the sanctum, they rushed to the counter. The Great Healer, standing behind the counter, looked up at them.

"What service would you like me to perform?" the Great Healer asked.

"Exorcism," Isaac said, placing Jenna on the counter. "Please hurry. We'll pay the fee."

"Hmm," the Great Healer said as he examined her, glowing softly as he did so. "Interesting. This doesn't seem good."

"What?" Felix asked.

"The girl was alive when she got possessed, yes?" asked the Great Healer.

"Of course she was!" Sheba exclaimed. "Wait... she's not alive now?"

"I only sense one soul inside here," the Great Healer said. "It is clearly not the soul that belongs to this body."

"Are you saying... Jenna is..." Piers broke off, unable to say it.

"If I perform the exorcism, all you get is a dead body," the Great Healer said heavily. "The original soul has already departed."

"No!" Felix exclaimed. "There's got to be something we can do!"

"Please?" Garet asked desperately. "I don't want to live with the fact I killed her!"

"There might be something..." the Great Healer said thoughtfully.

"We'll do anything," Isaac insisted. "Please tell us."

"Can he really bring back the dead?" Ivan muttered doubtfully.

"We're willing to try anything he suggests," Mia whispered back. "But I don't know how we can get Jenna back."

"Okay, I will tell you," said the Great Healer. "There is a soul inside here. Perhaps, if you go to the Underworld and find Jenna's soul, then go to see Hades. He might be willing to do an exchange."

"So what you're saying is we exchange the soul inside the body for Jenna's?" Sheba asked. The Healer nodded.

"How do we get to the Underworld?" Piers asked.

"If you can find the ancient tome of dark magic..." the Great Healer said. "It should lead you there. However, it hasn't been seen in many years and may be lost from this world. But if you can find it..."

"What's it called?" Ivan asked.

"Let me see..." the Great Healer said thoughtfully. "Tome... ah..."

"Tomegathericon?" Felix prompted, holding up the black book.

"That's it!" The Great Healer nodded frantically. "I am amazed you have a copy of that! The next step is simple... you must find the spell to go to Hades, then while outside, spill your blood on the ground. That means all of you. Not much blood though. Then walk around in a circle while chanting the spell and the portal to the Underworld will open up. To come back, return to the beginning and chant the spell backwards."

"The blood stuff sounds painful," Mia said, wincing.

"It sounds simple enough," Sheba said. "Let's hurry and do it."

"Thank you," Isaac said to the Great Healer. "We appreciate it."

The group of Adepts hurried outside, Piers carrying Jenna on his back, then everyone stood in a circle. The Vault people watched on in consternation as everyone cut their wrists and dripped blood onto the ground.

"What is this?" Kraden asked, walking up. "An emo parade?"

"We're going to the Underworld," Garet said. "We'll see you later."

"Okay..." Kraden said slowly as the Adepts walked in a circle around the pool of blood and chanted.

"E mega lraaca, lraaca ec knayd!"

A gaping black vortex appeared in the ground. Kraden gasped in shock, his shock further fuelled as the Adepts promptly leaped into the vortex. Just what were they playing at? He almost considered following, but then the vortex closed up.

The Adepts landed on a bank near a river. Several people were milling about around them. They looked around in surprise. Everything was gloomy and dull.

"Where are we?" Sheba asked nervously.

"Are we in Hades?" Ivan asked.

"According to the book..." Felix said, reading frantically. "We have to cross the river to get into the Underworld proper... oh wait, the far side of the river is guarded by a three headed dog that stops the living getting in. The Cerberus..."

"A dog? That can be dealt with," Sheba said. "We still have that bone from Lemuria that we don't know what to do with."

"We have to be ferried across by Charon, right?" Piers looked around, seeking out a boat. "Hmm... don't see a ferry or anything."

"The ferry just left," a wizened old man gasped out. "You'll just have to wait."

"We're not waiting," Isaac said. "We'll summon Charon ourselves! Ivan, put a couple of your Djinn on standby and summon Charon." As he said this, he put eight of his own Djinn on standby.

"Okay..." Ivan said uncertainly, doing as Isaac ordered. "I summon Charon!"

A bony apparition in a red and yellow cloak appeared in the sky. He looked questioningly at the Adepts as if to say 'Where the heck is the enemy'?"

"Charon, we have an emergency," Isaac said. "You have to ferry us across the Acheron River. Now!"

"You're... kidding, right?" Charon realised they were serious. He sighed. "Okay, fine, you cheaters."

The ferry ride went smoothly. Once on the other side of the Acheron River, the Adepts got off the ferry and Charon disappeared.

"Woof!"

The Adepts had barely taken a few steps when a three headed dog bounded up and glared at them, drool dripping from its jaws.

"Um... we're dead," Garet said. "Honest."

"I think it can tell the living from the dead, Garet," Sheba sighed.

"Let's use this," Piers said quickly, holding up the bone. Cerberus let out a whimper and gazed at the bone. "Here, doggy, catch!" He flung the bone as far as it could go and Cerberus ran off with a cry of joy. Once one of the heads had caught the bone, the other heads growled at it and the heads began fighting over the bone.

The Adepts wanted to watch this spectacle, but they knew they had to hurry into the Underworld before Cerberus came back, so they hurried onward and began the journey through Hades.

As the group walked on through the Asphodel Fields, Garet looked at Isaac glumly and decided to answer the question he'd been dreading. "Hey... Isaac... what if this doesn't work? Am I going to be punished?"

"Well, you know... we might just drop you off in Tartarus on our way back," Isaac said, a little too put off by the question to attempt the sarcastic tone that was required for his sarcasm.

"It was... an accident..." Garet said hoarsely, his face paling.

"Yeah, try telling that to Felix." Isaac pointed at his back.

"I'd... rather stay away from him for now," Garet said, swallowing heavily. Felix seemed scarily quiet and broody. Oh, wait, that was normal.

"Poor Jenna," Mia said, walking next to Sheba as she looked at Jenna who rode piggyback on Piers. "Being killed outright like that... it wasn't even her trying to fry us."

"Yeah, unfair, isn't it?" Sheba shook her head. "Garet hit too hard and now she's dead."

Mia sighed and stared at the limp, dead body. All she could think of was how Jenna was dead and she wasn't moving, or talking or...

Suddenly, Jenna's mouth split in a grin and her eyes flew open.

"AUGH!!!" Mia screamed, clutching onto Sheba. "It's alive!"

"Where are we?" Bunny exclaimed, bouncing up and down on Piers who almost fell over from the sudden motion.

"Mia, chill. That's just Bunny," Sheba said, glaring at her.

"Oh... yeah..." Mia giggled nervously. "I knew that..."

Piers quickly put Bunny down. "We are in the Underworld."

"Ooh, the Underworld? It's gloomy!" Bunny exclaimed. "Are we on a trip? Is it going to be fun? You even brought me along? Wow, I guess you guys like me now! Yay!"

"This is horrible," Felix whimpered.

"Yeah," Ivan said glumly. "Everything's just crazy."

"So, where are we headed?" Isaac asked, walking up to Felix.

"Er..." Felix glanced down at the map in the Tomegathericon. "The Plain of Judgement first. People get sent to Tartarus or Elysium. The palace of Hades is on the way to Elysium..."

"Right... this must be hard for you," Isaac said quietly. "I feel like beating Garet up, but I can't do that. He's my best friend. Hey, will you beat him up for me?"

"No, do your own dirty work," Felix said grumpily. "I'm just going to ignore him."

"Hey!" Bunny yelled, running up and dancing in circles around them. "Where are we going? Why are we in such a gloomy place? Why do you look so upset, Felix? Hey, do you want me to tell you a joke?"

"Hey, Bunny," Isaac said quickly. "If you shut your mouth and be very, very quiet... Felix might actually marry you."

"Oh, really? Okay, I'll shut up!" Bunny pressed her lips together and walked in silence. Felix shot an annoyed look at Isaac, who shrugged.

"Well, you're better at shutting her up than Garet is," Ivan said, glancing at Isaac.

"This place is so depressing," Mia said with a sigh as she stepped up to Isaac and wrapped her arm around his. "It makes me unhappy."

"I think we all feel the same," Isaac said, holding her close.

"Are we there yet?" Piers asked. "I can't stand watching all those dead people everywhere. It's creeping me out."

"Look," Sheba said, pointing at an old, wooden sign. "PLAIN OF JUDGEMENT" was scrawled on it in bold, black handwriting.

"Jenna might still be here," Ivan said. "Let's hurry."

The group hurried along the path until they found a gathering of people standing at the end of the path where it forked into two. Occasionally, someone would disperse from the group and go along one of the two paths. Screams of pain could be heard from the left.

"That must be Tartarus," Garet said, whimpering in fear.

"Yes, Garet. Off you go," Sheba said, gesturing toward the city of the damned.

"Do I have to?" Garet bit his lip nervously.

"No, you don't!" Mia snapped. "You're not even dead!"

"I'm sure Jenna went toward Elysium," Isaac said. "Let's hurry."

Thankfully, they didn't have to go far before they found Jenna wandering down the path. As they called out, she turned toward them, looking confused, then grinned and ran up to them.

"Hey, guys!" Jenna exclaimed. "This is weird. One minute, I'm being possessed by Bunny and the next I'm in this weird place and getting on a ferry. How did I get here?"

Everyone fell silent, staring at her.

"Anyway, this is kind of strange," Jenna said. "How did the eight of you get here? Wait, eight?" She frowned and looked at each of them, counting. "Eight... that's strange... wait a minute!" Jenna gaped at her own body.

"Garet bashed out some of your brain cells, didn't he?" Isaac muttered, rubbing his forehead.

"Jenna... Bunny is still in your body," Sheba said, gesturing at Bunny. "And you... well, you're kind of dead."

"You're in Hades, Jenna," Ivan told her. "We came to save you."

Jenna stepped back, looking shocked. "But... but... how?"

"Garet thought bashing you in the back of the head with a rock would be a good idea to stop Bunny from burning everyone to death," Felix said sourly.

"Heh... I'm really sorry..." Garet backed away as Jenna growled, advancing on him.

"Garet... you moron... you KILLED me?" Jenna screamed. Garet flinched as Jenna swung her fist at his head. However, it just went right through. "Uh...?" Jenna waved her hand then stepped forward, sticking it through Garet. "That's weird... ahh!"

"That's creepy, Jenna!" Garet exclaimed, stepping aside. "Yikes... and I didn't even feel a thing."

"I... I'm dead!" Jenna started bawling.

"She's progressing through the stages very quickly," Piers murmured.

"Jenna is known for her mood swings," Sheba said.

"It's okay, Jenna," Felix said quickly, rushing up to her. "We have a plan. Why do you think we came all the way here? We're going to bring you back."

"Really?" Jenna sniffled and looked at him with wide, tearful eyes. "How?"

Bunny pouted as the others all clustered up in a group, whispering to each other. How unfair! They were leaving her out! But she had to be quiet or else Felix wouldn't marry her. She sighed and clasped her hands, imagining a future with him.

Eventually, the group broke apart and Jenna seemed to have recovered.

"Okay," Jenna said, nodding her head in determination. "This had better work, otherwise I'm going to get out of here and haunt you all! Especially YOU, Garet!"

"Such rapid mood swings," Ivan said, shaking his head.

"Let's go!" Isaac said. "We're going to go and pay Hades a visit!"

The Adepts wasted no time in proceeding to Hades's palace. The sooner Jenna was back in her own body and Bunny was gone, the better. Jenna's moods seemed to be getting worse by the minute.

When they reached the towering building that was undoubtedly Hades's palace, they were in for a surprise.

"...Pink?" Mia asked in amazement.

"I wasn't expecting that." Sheba blinked.

"Yeah, neither was I..." Ivan said quietly.

"Well... let's just go in... and find Hades..." Piers said as he composed himself.

"Good idea." Isaac nodded.

"We're actually going to meet Hades, Lord of the Underworld," Garet said. "Amazing."

"And it's all your fault," Jenna hissed.

"I wonder what it's like inside..." Felix said as they walked into the palace.

Inside, it was black and gloomy. Somehow, the Adepts were taken by surprise at this.

"Pink on the outside, black and gloomy on the inside... what the heck?" Isaac groaned.

"Maybe someone just has a very strange sense of humour," Ivan suggested.

A hushed silence fell over the group as they walked through the dark and gloomy corridors, up many winding stairs, wondering where the heck they were going. Occasionally, bats flapped past and screeched and some wandering soul would appear, moaning pitifully.

Eventually, they found a door with a sign nailed to it saying, "THRONE ROOM." without hesitation, they walked in and were quite surprised to find everything lit up with candles and the entire room decorated in red and gold and white.

"It's pretty," Mia commented.

"So bright..." Sheba winced.

"That must be Hades," Ivan said, pointing to a man who sat on a giant throne, making out with a woman.

"Uh, excuse me?" Isaac stepped up, interrupting the make-out session. The two jumped apart and looked at him.

"Who dares interrupt my lovemaking?" Hades demanded. "I was just about to get it on with my wife, Persephone."

"On the throne?" Garet exclaimed.

"It's more comfortable than it looks," Persephone said defensively.

"We need to ask a favour," Felix said, walking up and standing next to Isaac. "You see..."

"Wait, you're not dead!" Hades leaned forward and glanced at Jenna. "She's the only one who's dead. What is the meaning of this? And... is that her twin?"

"No, it's not her twin, it's her body possessed by the ghost of a girl who's been dead for one hundred years," Sheba said. "An annoying girl named Bunny."

"How mean!" Bunny cried out.

"Dead for one hundred years?" Hades exclaimed. "And staying in the world of the living? The cheek of her."

"Anyway, Jenna here got killed by accident," Ivan said. "SOMEONE thought it would be a good idea to smash her in the head to stop Bunny from harming us."

"Sheesh, I'm sorry already!" Garet exclaimed. "Can't you just drop it?"

"I agree. Garet's been through enough now," Mia said. "Let's stop blaming him."

"I want my body back and I want to be alive again," Jenna said fiercely. As an afterthought, she added, "Please?"

"We want to make a deal," Piers said.

"A deal? I'm listening," said Hades.

"We'll give you Bunny if you return Jenna's soul to her body and let her return to the living with us," Isaac said.

"Is that good enough?" Felix asked desperately.

"An exchange, eh?" Hades smiled. "Very well. Come here, Bunny." He beckoned.

"What? No!" Bunny shrieked and flailed around. Then a twelve year old girl appeared, slowly coming out of Jenna's body. With a final wrench, she was pulled out and Jenna's body fell over on the floor.

"I'm going to have bruises!" Jenna complained. Several people just rolled their eyes in response at her ironic statement.

"No! No!" Bunny wailed as she was pulled over to Hades and fell in a heap at his feet. "This isn't fair! I hate you all!"

Hades ignored her and waved his hand at Jenna. In a flash, she was sucked into her body. Jenna blinked and struggled to her feet, shaking her head.

"Wow, major head rush..." Jenna clutched her forehead. "I'm alive again..." She promptly walked up to Garet and socked him in the shoulder. "And solid again too. This feels so good!"

"That didn't feel good," Garet said, clutching his shoulder.

"Well, I could kick you in the nuts, but I'm too happy at being alive again," Jenna said in a matter of fact tone. Garet shuddered and backed away.

"Now what to do with you..." Hades said, grinning at Bunny. "Maybe I could send you to Tartarus. It's been a lot worse since some guy named Alex came."

"Alex?" Mia exclaimed in surprise.

"No!" Bunny wailed. "I'll behave myself, I swear! I don't want to go to Tartarus!"

"I suppose it wouldn't be fair on you, you are just an annoying little girl," Hades said. "And it's not like I'm evil." He glanced at Mia. "Apparently this Alex talks too much and annoys people even as he's burning. But, hey, Tartarus is where the sinners go to suffer, so I don't mind much."

"I... see..." Mia said slowly. "Well, I guess Alex deserves it."

"Thank you," Isaac said. "Okay, let's get back to the world of the living now."

"I can't wait to see the sun and the trees and stuff again," Sheba sighed.

"And no more Bunny," Ivan said, smiling happily.

"You remember how to get back, right?" Piers asked.

"Chant the spell backward," Felix said. "It's in the Tomegathericon."

"Let's hurry," Jenna said. "I can't stand the sound of Bunny's screeching."

The Adepts wasted no time in hurrying out of the palace and back to the river. Cerberus paid them no heed, since he was meant to stop the living getting in, not out. Again, Charon was summoned. The summon was a little annoyed at being used in this way but they promised it wouldn't happen again.

Once on the other side of the river, the Adepts stood in a circle.

"Just have to say the spell backwards, right?" Ivan asked. "No cutting?"

"The Great Healer didn't say anything about cutting to go back," Mia said.

Felix held up the Tomegathericon and read the words backward with a little difficulty. "Okay, we chant... Dyank ce acaarl, acaarl agem e."

Everyone chanted in unison. A glowing white vortex appeared in the sky and sucked them all up.

Kraden sat on a rock, feeling quite bored. The Valeans were all too busy fighting about who went where to talk to him. The sun was setting and the Adepts hadn't even come back yet. It worried him. What also worried him was that a dead body had been lying on the ground for the past few hours. Why were they ignoring it? The children would be traumatised by now.

Suddenly, a glowing white circle appeared in the ground. Kraden watched on in astonishment as Isaac, Garet, Ivan, Mia, Felix, Jenna, Sheba and Piers flew out of the circle and hit the ground. The glowing circle shortly vanished.

"We're back in Vault!" Sheba cheered.

"Everything worked out after all," Ivan said with a grin.

"Am I forgiven?" Garet asked.

"Maybe," Isaac said.

"What is happening?" Kraden demanded, walking up to the group as they all stood.

"Oh, nothing much," Piers said. "Just a little trouble with ghosts."

"And Garet accidentally killed Jenna so we had to go to Hades and get her back by swapping her for the ghost," Felix said, looking exasperated.

"Thankfully, it worked, so I don't have to haunt everyone," Jenna said with a smirk, clinging happily to her brother.

Mia took one look at Alex's body then grinned. Everyone watched on in mild surprise and amusement as she ran over and danced around his body, singing. "Ding dong, the wicked witch is dead!"

"So, what's been happening up here?" Garet asked.

"The Valeans are arguing about where to go," Kraden said. "They can't all fit into the inn."

"Oh, that's right!" Ivan exclaimed. "We should take some of them to Kalay. It's getting late, so we should get a move on."

"Remember, I get to stay at the inn," Sheba said.

"Of course. We're heroes, we get privileges." Isaac smirked.

A cute, fluffy bunny rabbit suddenly hopped up. Most of the Adepts took one look at the rabbit and shuddered. Kraden noticed this.

"What's wrong?" Kraden asked. "It's just a bunny."

"Rabbit," Felix said through gritted teeth. "It's a rabbit."


End file.
